Presidents Back Progressive Goals
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1896- Republican President William McKinley
is elected President
McKinley popularity soared as business
boomed
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Business expanded and unemployment fell
By 1900 McKinley realized that Progressive
were gaining strength. With this in mind he
chose Theodore Roosevelt as his running
mate
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Teddy Roosevelt or TR came from a wealthy
New York family. As a child he was often sick
but lifted weights, ran, and boxed
Roosevelt supported many Progressive goals
and hated corruption. He believed
government should protect public interest
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By age 26 Roosevelt was serving in the New
York State legislature
Tragically his mother and wife died on the
same day
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He quit politics and moved to a cattle ranch
in present day North Dakota
2 year later TR returned east
He served on the Civil Service Commission
1898 Roosevelt signed up to fight the war
against Spain
1898 he was elected governor of New York
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Roosevelt pushed for reform
He was call a goo goo, a nickname for
someone who wanted good government
Sept. 1901 an assassin shot and killed
President McKinley, Roosevelt become
President
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TR thought the good trusts should be left
alone
TR thought the government should either
control or break up the trusts that cheated
the public and took advantage of its workers
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This was Roosevelt government test case
1902 TR ordered the Attorney General to
bring a lawsuit against the Northern
Securities Case
This giant trust had been put together by J.P.
Morgan
TR argued that Northern Securities used
unfair practices in violation of the Sherman
Act.
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Other businesses worried because they
operated like Northern Securities. If its
practices were illegal so were theirs
Ordinary people supported the President
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The Supreme Court found that Northern
Securities had violated the Sherman Antitrust
Act by limiting trade
It ordered the trust to be broken up
The decision showed the effects of the
Progressive Movement
- TR then ordered the Attorney General to file
suit against other trusts that had broken the
law
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Some business leader referred to TR as a
trustbuster
Trustbuster- someone who wanted to destroy
all trusts
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TR crashed with the mine owners
1902 coal miners in Pennsylvania went on
strike
They wanted better pay and a shorter work
day
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As winter approached schools and hospitals
ran out of coal
TR threatened to send troops in to run the
mines
As a result owners sat down with the union
and reached and agreement
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Working people around the country cheered
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Other Presidents used troops to break strikes
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TR was the first to side with labor against
mine owners
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1904 Roosevelt runs for President promising
American a square deal
Square Deal- all Americans should have equal
opportunity to succeed
The promise helped TR win by a landslide
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TR knew the ICC had done little to end
rebated and other abuses of the railroad
Elkins Act: 1903 outlawed rebated
Hepburn Act: 1906 gave the ICC greater
power including the right to set railroad rates
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TR read Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle; as a
result he sent more inspectors to
meatpacking houses
Owners refused to let inspectors in
TR sent newspapers copies of government
report supporting Sinclair’s pictures of the
meatpacking industry
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1906 Congress passes the Meat Inspection
Act: it forced meat packing to open their
doors to inspectors
Muckrakers had revealed that the food
industry was adding dangerous chemicals to
canned foods
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Pure Food and Drug Act: required food and
rug makers to list all ingredients on their
packages
◦ Also tried to end false advertisement
◦ Ban the use of impure ingredients
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TR loved the outdoors
He was alarmed about the destruction of the
wilderness
Conservation: protection of natural resources
Some forest and mountain areas should be
left as wilderness
He wanted lumber companies to replants
trees
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1908 TR supported William Taft in the
Presidential election
TR then left for a year to hunt big game in
Africa
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Taft was very different from TR
Like TR, Taft supported Progressive causes
He pushed ahead with trust busting
Taft lost support of the Progressives when he
signed a tariff bill that Progressive opposed
and he blocked conservation policies they
supported
TR returned from Africa to find out reformers
felt Taft betrayed them
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TR decides to run against Taft in the 1912
Republican Primary
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Many Republican business people distrusted
TR so they chose Taft as their candidate
Progressive Republicans were furious and
marched out of the Convention
They set up their own party, the Progressive
Party
They chose TR to run for President
TR said “I feel as strong as a bull” He and his
supporters became known as the Bull Moose
Party
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Democrats chose Woodrow Wilson, a
progressive as their candidate
Wilson won the election on 1912
Taft and Roosevelt split the Republican votes
helping Wilson to win by getting mostly all
Democrats votes
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New Freedom: Wilson’s program to split up
trusts and restore competition
He pushed for a lower tariff to increase
competition from foreigners
Congress imposed a graduate income tax
Federal Reserve Act: passed to regulate
banking
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Wilson realized he could not break up large
corporations just try and control them
Federal Trade Commission: they had power to
investigate companies and order them to stop
using unfair business
Clayton Antitrust Act: banned some business
practices limiting competition and barred
antitrust laws from being used against unions
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After 1914 the Progressive Era slowed
They had reached many of their goals and
war in Europe caught American attention